Did lobbyists use foreign money to defeat anti-outsourcing bill?

[LongTomH]

From the Examiner.com Denver:

On October 5th Lee Fang of ThinkProgress.org reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been instrumental in defeating bills aimed at repealing the tax incentives that encourage outsourcing, has opened its membership to foreign entities. These entities run the gamut of American businesses based overseas, to foreign corporations such as British Petroleum and Siemens, to foreign corporations OWNED BY FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS, such as the Bank of India and Bahrain Petroleum Company.

Entities that join the Chamber, which pay dues depending on the size of their organization, can pay dues ranging from $500 to hundred of thousands of dollars a year. The ThinkProgress piece does not specify what portion of the Chambers budget is used to influence political legislation, elections or discourse, but the Center for Responsive Politics reported that in 2009, for the first time, the "U.S." Chamber of Commerce outspent BOTH the Republican and Democratic parties in terms of lobbying activities, organizing and political advertising. It seems those who have long sought a viable third party need wait no longer. That party is now here, even if its hand is hidden. Shades of the "Trade Federation," that morphed into the Evil Empire in Star Wars. Was George Lucas a prophet of sorts?

The ThinkProgress piece notes the twin developments of the Chamber's aggressive overseas fundraising campaign, mostly through "business councils," and "AmChams" and the fact that the Chamber has pledged "an unprecendented $75 million" to defeat mostly, if not entirely, Democratic candidates in a number of states, including California, Pennsylvania, among others. Also since the Chamber has been largely successful in seeking to stop oversight of political monies, (in fact, the activities of the Chamber's branch in Russia are conducted in secret) there is no means to independently verify whether or not the Chamber is transferring dues and other payments from its foreign members into its political war chest in the U.S. If any internal firewall exists, the Chamber is not revealing it or its workings even amidst the firestorm these revelations have created.

The ThinkProgress piece has resulted in members of the Senate calling for a Federal Elections Commission investigation into the Chambers funding of political ads this election season. A follow-up piece at ThinkProgress reported those calls for investigation as well as the statement Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, who had no doubt that the Chamber was using a "back-door way to get around long-standing and legitimate restriction," such as the restrictions against foreign money funding campaigns in the United State. Of course, if the Chamber is successful in promoting its own candidates the likelihood that it will be held to account for campaign violations becomes much more remote.

Read more here: http://www.examiner.com/city-buzz-in-denver/did-lobbyists-use-foreign-money-to-defeat-anti-outsourcing-bill

The question, dear friends, is not are you outraged; it's: Are you outraged enough?:grr:
Now, who was it who wanted to open a store called: Pitchforks 'r' US?:grr:

Edited to add: Here's the link to the original ThinkProgress posting: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/05/foreign-chamber-commerce/

Author Lee Fang has a series at ThinkProgress on the Chamber and it machinations.

[HereSince1628]

1. Did the little pig go weee weee weee all the way home????????????

This is America

The best government for the money that can buy it.

[xchrom]

2. Recommend -

[elleng]

3. Is (was) the Pope Polish???

:shrug: